No backward steps: Cockerill’s Georgia ready to take on the Springboks

If any rugby follower is unsure how Georgia will approach Saturday’s encounter with the Springboks in Mbombela, they need only cast their minds back to the day England hooker Richard Cockerill shoved an All Black during the Haka.

It was 1997, and Cockerill — now the head coach of Georgia — decided to fight fire with fire. As his teammates faced the Haka, Cockerill marched up to his opposite number, Norm Hewitt. The two locked eyes, went nose to nose, and the standoff ended with Cockerill shoving Hewitt. The All Blacks cried foul, but Cockerill refused to apologise.

It is that same uncompromising attitude that has made him a popular figure with a Georgian side that thrives on physicality.

In his first campaign in charge, Cockerill led Georgia to the 2024 Rugby Europe Championship title — their seventh in a row. He also oversaw their 2024 Pacific tour, where the Lelos secured a first win over Japan since 2014. Later that year, they beat Tonga and came agonisingly close to toppling Italy in Genoa, narrowly losing 20–17.

In March 2025, Georgia defended their Rugby Europe title and qualified for the 2027 World Cup.

Unsurprisingly, Cockerill says his side won’t take a step back against the Boks.

“We can’t be timid,” he told reporters.

“I’m a former international — I played against James Dalton many times — and there were no backward steps in those confrontations. So, the only way for us to compete on Saturday is to roll our sleeves out, stick our gumshields in, and get in the middle of it.

"What else can we do?”

As cocky as Cockerill has always been — whether as a player or a coach at Toulon, Leicester, Edinburgh or Montpellier — he understands that taking on the brutal Boks on South African soil is about as tough as it gets.

“We’re a physical team, we’re a physical nation. We like the physical parts of the game. But the next level of physicality and mentality is South Africa — for sure — and we want to see where we sit relative to the Boks.

“There’s only one way to take on a team like South Africa, and that’s head-on. And we’ll see if we’re good enough to compete, to stay with them.”

Cockerill knows several Springbok players from his time coaching at Leicester and Edinburgh, and he’s closely acquainted with debutant loosehead prop Boan Venter.

“They’ve picked a different front row this week. I know Boan very well — I signed him for Edinburgh from the Cheetahs. They’ve picked a strong pack, but the only way to go at it is full noise. I’m not going to make any outlandish promises like ‘we’re going to smash the Boks,’ but we want to go out and compete.”

Georgia have played two Tests against South Africa. Their first meeting came at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia — the match marked a youthful John Smit’s debut as Bok captain. Their second was a warm-up Test during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ahead of South Africa’s series against the British & Irish Lions in 2021.

Last week, the Lelos warmed up for the Springboks by playing the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, where they fell to a narrow 24–20 defeat after conceding a last-minute try.